Matthew MurrayCall of Duty: Black OpsWith a nail-biting, political thriller&ndash;like campaign set on the battlefields of the 1960s, and a wide range of online and unlockable content, Call of Duty: Black Ops offers a host of captivating ways to get your war on.

Exciting game play. Campaign has engaging, atmospheric story. Lots of additional unlockable content. Available for many platforms.

Cons

Very short campaign. Online multiplayer version lacks cooperative mode.

Bottom Line

With a nail-biting, political thriller–like campaign set on the battlefields of the 1960s, and a wide range of online and unlockable content, Call of Duty: Black Ops offers a host of captivating ways to get your war on.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is less like a traditional first-person shooter (FPS) than it is a plunge into someone else's fever dream. A jolting collection of intense action sequences, haunting writing, and ultra-black humor, the latest installment in the popular franchisewhich has already obliterated sales records and earned huge amounts of moneyboth revitalizes the historical-fiction FPS genre and stakes a claim to its own electrifying chapter of it. Though its captivatingly spun campaign is on the short side, it's loaded with additional things to do, including cooperative and competitive multiplayer scenarios, and plenty of unlockable extras. Add in the fact that it's available for practically every major platform (PC, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 for $59.99 list; Nintendo DS for $29.99 list), and you've got a high-value target for holiday gift giving.

History Comes Alive
Following up on the promise of last year's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops weaves a web of sublime intrigue and just the proper dash of confusion in its plot-driven campaign that sets the tone for the game as a whole. Delivering psychological realities as riveting and terrifying as its militaristic ones, the story is set from roughly 1961 to 1968, a politically panoramic backdrop fierier than you'll find even in most games of this nature. As special forces operative Alex Mason, you'll participate variously in a sweep of major conflicts, ranging from the Bay of Pigs (your first mission is to kill Fidel Castro) to Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive, with stops along the way at Vorkuta Gulag, Laos, and Rebirth Island. The Soviet space program and numbers broadcasts are crucial elements, and Robert McNamara and especially President John F. Kennedy are major on-screen characters.

What's most amazing about the campaign is that, despite its broad canvas and numerous intersections with history, it never attains enough burdensome weight to feel irresponsibly epic. You usually play Masonthough sometimes you'll also control his compatriot, Hudson, or his mysterious Soviet contact, Reznov. But Mason is always near the center of the action, giving you a clear eyewitness view of one man's perspective on civilization-shaking events, and reminding you of the constant ebb and flow of forces far greater than Mason that have made his world, and ours, what it is.

The sheer breadth of the simulation contributes greatly to the excitement. Your fists will fly and your guns will blaze as you plow through Cubans, Viet Cong, and Soviets by the score; a few additional battles are conducted from tanks, gunboats, helicopters, and an SR-71 Blackbird; and at still other times, you'll be required to take out mammoth vehicles or even marauding missiles with your own specialized weaponry, rappel down the side of a mountain, or infiltrate a compound when the streets are choked with deadly nerve gas. I have no idea if real special forces agents in the 1960s had to do quite so muchmy guess is nobut it's part of what makes the campaign so full of surprises. Interrogation scenes, interspersed throughout the missions and primarily responsible for forcing ahead the narrative and amplifying the omnipresent feeling of dread, also keep you on your toes. And excellent voice acting from some Hollywood heavyweights like Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Ice Cube, and Topher Grace lends real gravitas to the drama.

Compellingly written and presented as the story is, from its mysterious beginning to its chilling, understated ending, it unfortunately seems as if it's over before it's even begun. The campaign took me only about ten hours on the standard difficulty setting (there is also one easier setting and two harder ones), and a significant portion of that was because I was caught without proper ammo and save checkpoints that kicked in at less-than-opportune times. If your trigger finger is in better shape than mine, you'll probably be able to polish it off in eight or even less, which is disappointing for a work of this depth.

Multiplayer Modes and Extras
Of course, the campaign is far from the only way to enjoy the game. Multiplayer mode is terrific, and well implemented, letting you cart your equipment onto a wider assortment of maps (14 altogether) and wage Deathmatch, Domination, and Capture-the-Flag battles (as well as several others) on players from around the world. A Multiplayer currency system called CODPoints lets you purchase weapons you unlock after attaining certain levels of experience, or on visual customizations that can make your gear look uniquely yours.

Note, though, that multiplayer offers only competitive gaming. If you want a cooperative mode, you'll have to fire up Zombies, a built-in minigame that pits you and up to three intrepid (live) companions against hordes of borderline-comic shamblers, with weapons and ammunition in perilously short supply. You start with only one Zombies mapa German castle, filled with Nazi undeadbut can unlock more, including a surreally funny one upon completing the campaign. Still other, even more exotic gaming avenues await in Call of Duty: Black Ops's Easter eggs, which include a 2D, coin-opstyle shooter reinterpretation of Zombies (complete with absurdly destructive power-ups!) and, even more fascinating, an unadulterated version of Zork I: The Great Underground Empire.

These additions will keep you immersed long after you've wrapped up Mason's story, which is a good thingwe understand the importance and the entertainment of online gaming (even if I wish there were a cooperative mode using the multiplayer maps), but the story here is good enough that we feel we're being a little bit short-changed. Perhaps it's better that it leaves the player wanting more rather than wearing out its welcome? Either way, I don't see myself tiring of the game. Call of Duty: Black Ops is well worthy of an Editors' Choice for first-person shooters.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Bottom Line: With a nail-biting, political thriller&ndash;like campaign set on the battlefields of the 1960s, and a wide range of online and unlockable content, Call of Duty: Black Ops offers a host of captivating ways to get your war on.

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About the Author

Matthew Murray got his humble start leading a technology-sensitive life in elementary school, where he struggled to satisfy his ravenous hunger for computers, computer games, and writing book reports in Integer BASIC. He earned his B.A. in Dramatic Writing at Western Washington University, where he also minored in Web design and German. He has been... See Full Bio

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops

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